In 2021, this applied to 17 per cent of the qualified applicants. 2022 is the first year with a decrease in the number of qualified applicants without an offer of admission, and in the previous decade, there has been an increasing number of qualified applicants who do not receive an offer of admission (Samordna opptak, 2022, p. 12).
The qualified applicants without an offer of admission in the main admission round of Samordna opptak are applicants who meet the qualification requirements and have applied for at least one study program, but do not receive an offer of admission. In these cases, there are more applicants than available study places for a particular study programme. This report focuses on applicants from 2013 and 2018 and finds no significant differences between these groups of applicants. The summary presents the results from 2018.
There are several characteristics of qualified applicants who do not receive an offer of admission. Qualified applicants without an offer of admission submit, on average, fewer applications than those who receive an offer of admission. Younger applicants submit more applications on average than older applicants. If one has completed a degree previously, they submit fewer applications, regardless of the applicant's age.
While 87 per cent of qualified applicants who are 21 years old or younger receive an offer of admission, this applies to 69 percent among applicants who are 45 years old or older. Applicants who have parents with tertiary education are more likely to receive an offer of admission than applicants whose parents have completed education below upper secondary education. Nearly nine out of ten qualified applicants who have parents with tertiary education received an offer of admission in 2018.
Qualified applicants who are immigrants and Norwegian-born with immigrant parents are less likely to receive an offer of admission, at 75 percent. In the rest of the population, the proportion of those offered admission was 82 percent. A larger proportion among applicants who are Norwegian-born with immigrant parents apply to professional education programs with the highest score scores (8 percent). Nevertheless, it is the applicants for professional studies among the rest of the population who are most likely to be admitted, where six out of ten receive an offer of admission, compared to 45 percent among applicants who are Norwegian-born with immigrant parents.
We also follow the qualified applicants who did not receive an offer of admission afterwards. Four out of ten were registered at tertiary education the same fall, which means that they either continued in an ongoing education or came in through a supplementary admission or local admission. Nearly half (46 percent) were registered as employed as the main activity, meaning that they were not studying at the time. Most were therefore registered at tertiary education and/or employment the same fall, even though they did not receive an offer of admission through the main admission round in Samordna opptak.
Half of the qualified applicants who did not receive admission in 2018 also applied the following year, meaning they also applied for admission via Samordna opptak in the spring of 2019. Among these, six out of ten received an offer of admission in the spring of 2019. The results show that many are in teriary education, both the same fall they did not receive an offer of admission through Samordna opptak and the following year.